UN chief to visit Haiti after hurricane attack

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to visit Haiti on Saturday, including a tour to the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Matthew, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here Thursday.

"The secretary-general will travel to Haiti to meet with communities affected by Hurricane Matthew, government officials and humanitarians working in the country," Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here. "He is scheduled to visit the city of Les Cayes, one of the hardest-hit areas, along with provisional President Jocelerme Privert."

The visit is expected to take place at a time when a UN humanitarian appeal for Haiti attracted just few donors. ' The official death toll in Haiti from Hurricane Matthew climbed to 372 on Monday, the Civil Protection Directorate (DPC) said. Unofficial figures put the death toll at more than 800.

A week after the category 4 hurricane whipped through southern Haiti, leaving destruction in its wake, the DPC issued its updated assessment of the damage, saying four people were still missing and 246 others sustained injuries.

Some 175,509 people who were left homeless are being housed in 224 temporary shelters.

Also on Thursday, the UN Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) reported several security incidents affecting delivery of some humanitarian aid in the small island country, Dujarric said.

On Oct. 11, UN escort troops fired non-lethal ammunition to disperse crowds attempting to loot a humanitarian convoy in Les Cayes, he said.

MINUSTAH military are providing escort and static security services to humanitarian convoys while UN Police have conducted over 860 patrols with the Haitian National Police since the passage of the hurricane.

"MINUSTAH FM is back on air in the South providing critical information to affected communities," he said, adding that on the humanitarian front, the Flash Appeal for Haiti is only five percent funded, with 6.1 million received out of the 120 million U.S. dollars requested. Endi